Cinnamon French Toast Bake

I have found myself extremely busy lately and have neglected this blog.  I just haven't been experimenting with new recipes as much as I was.  This week I spotted a recipe that I thought looked like it was worth giving a shot so I thought this would be a good opportunity to post!  My kids devoured it and went back for seconds.  Well worth trying!

Cinnamon French Toast Bake:

Melt 1/4 cup butter and place in 9x13 baking dish

Cut up 2 cans of refrigerated cinnamon rolls (I used walmart brand reduced fat) and place small pieces of cinnamon roll  into butter in pan.  Each cinnamon roll should be cut up into 6-8 pieces.

Mix together:

6 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream or milk (I used whole milk)
 2 tsp ground cinnamon
 2 tsp vanilla

Pour egg mixture over cinnamon roll pieces.

Sprinkle 1 cup chopped pecans over top.  You can adjust this amount if desired.  I did a 1/2 of cup.  I wish I would have done a little more for myself.  But, my family doesn't like pecans as much as I do.

Drizzle 1 cup maple syrup over the entire dish.  This could be adjusted to taste as well.

Bake 20-28 minutes at 375 degrees.  I pulled mine out when the top was golden at about 24 minutes.  I wish I had left it in a tad longer to let the center cook a little bit more.  

Allow this to cool for 15 minutes.  Cut open icing packages from cinnamon roll package and put into a microwave container.  Microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds to a minute....just until it is thin enough to drizzle.  Drizzle icing over top and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  If desired, spoon syrup over individual servings or on the side.

Butterscotch Cinnamon Scones

Today's baking experiment was a COMPLETE HIT!  I don't think I have heard my kids rave so much over something that I have made before.  As they were eating them, I heard things like "SUPER GOOD!" "REALLY GOOD!" "REALLY REALLY GOOD!"  over and over again.  It was really cute.

This is a recipe that I found on King Arthur Flour, but made some minor modifications to it...as usual.  LOL!

SCONES:

Mix together in a bowl:
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3/4 tsp salt

Cut in with a pastry cutter:
1/2 cup cold butter (1 stick)

Add:
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup milk

Once combined, add:
1 cup butterscotch chips

On a really well floured silicone mat, roll scone batter into a 9" square.

In a bowl, prepare
FILLING:

Cut together:
5 Tablespoons cold butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

Add:
2 1/2 Tablespoons water

Spread filling over entire surface of scone batter.  Then, fold down the top of the dough, fold up the bottom, and fold in the sides.  Like you are sealing an envelope.  Cut into triangles or squares.  Whatever shape you want your scones and how ever many you want of them.  You can do smaller scones or larger ones.  I did 8 triangle scones.  But, they were REALLY LARGE.  The King Arthur recipe says it can make anywhere from 12-54 scones.  I separated the scones slightly and spread them out on the silicone mat.  Then, put the mat on a cookie sheet.  I placed this in the freezer for the scones to chill while I preheated my oven. At the most, leave the scones in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Bake the scones at 425 degrees for 16-20 minutes.  My 8 were done in 18 minutes.  Just watch them and remove them from the oven when they are golden brown.

Prepare
GLAZE: 



In a bowl, combine:
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
7 Tablespoons water

Remove scones from the oven and let them cool on cookie sheet for 3-5 minutes.  Carefully remove the scones to a cooling rack with wax paper placed under it.  Drizzle the glaze over the scones and let the glaze set up before serving.

Broccoli Cheddar Noodle Soup with Wholesome Whole-Grain Bread

This soup was inspired by a soup that I use to get at a restaurant when we lived in Ohio.  I've found recipes for Broccoli Cheddar Soup, but never a Broccoli Cheddar Noodle Soup.  I was hungry for it so I thought that I would give it a shot.  I found a few different recipes and ended up deciding to take a Cheddar soup and modify it.  It really turned out great.  I made a Wholesome Whole-Grain bread that was slightly crunchy on the outside, but soft on the inside.  Perfect to be served with soup.  I started the bread first and then started the soup after I got the bread into the oven.  It was really great timing.

Wholesome Whole-Grain Bread:

In a large bowl, place:
3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup unprocessed bran
2 tsp honey

Add over the top:

2 cups boiling water

Let that stand for 30 minutes. Then, add:
2 tsp canola oil
2 tsp salt
4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (2 packages)

Place mixture in mixer fitted with dough hook attachment.  Mix on low speed.

Add flour 1/2 cup at a time until a stiff dough form and then Kneed dough until smooth and elastic. 
3-4 cups all-purpose flour (I think I used a total of 3 3/4)

Place dough in a large greased bowl turning to coat.  Cover and let rise in warm place for 1 hour.

Punch down dough and then turn out dough onto floured silicone mat.  Shape dough into a round loaf.  Cover and let rise again for 45 minutes.

Slash the top of the loaf in a checkerboard pattern and then brush loaf with milk.

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.  Bread should sound hollow when tapped.  Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Broccoli Cheddar Noodle Soup:

In a large pot saute:
6 Tablespoons butter
4 small cloves of garlic

Add:
4 cups of low sodium stock (1 container)
2 cups fat free half and half
2 cups skim milk
2 cups sharp cheddar shredded cheese
2 - 10 oz. frozen broccoli  pieces thawed
Salt & Pepper to taste
12 oz. package of kluski noodles or other egg noodle

Bring to a boil and then simmer on low until noodles and broccoli are tender.  This can be served garnished with some additional cheese if desired.

Brown Sugar Pinwheel Cookies

I was planning to make Snicker-doodle cookies this weekend, but I didn't have enough shortening.  So, I opted to make these Brown Sugar Pinwheel Cookies.  I haven't made them in YEARS.  I think that the last time that I made them was living in our first house...which was 4 houses ago! LOL!  I don't know why I haven't made them....they are yummy and pretty too!

Beat together:

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter

Add:
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Beat the sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla together until it is light and creamy.

Then add:
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt

Once the dough is completely combined, remove half of the dough onto a silicone mat.

To the remaining dough left in the mixer, add:
2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Roll the white dough out onto the silicone mat then add the chocolate dough on top of that patting down.  Once I have all of the chocolate on top of the white, I roll it out into a large rectangle about the size of the mat.  The chocolate dough will be on top of the white dough.  Once it is all rolled out, you will roll up the dough jelly roll style starting with the longest side.  Roll the dough up into a tight log, wrap with the silicone mat, and freeze for about 30 minutes until it is solid.

Slice the dough into 1/4 inch thick slices and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 12-13 minutes.

My style LÄRABAR - Additional Flavors

I originally posted a Cherry Pie flavor which was made with dried cranberries, but since then I have been playing around with different flavor combinations of the LÄRABAR.  We really like having these healthy snacks on hand.   We have even stopped purchasing other types of bars and gone to making these exclusively.  People have asked about altering the recipe, so I thought I would share some that we really like.

Follow the recipe for making these in the other post.  However, I have found that if you add a little of the nuts to the food processor when you are chopping the dates it helps.

Cashew Cookie:

1 cup cashews
1/2 cup dates

The other 2 recipes are just modifications of the orginal recipe I posted.  But, instead of dried cranberries....I use other dried fruit.  I really think that the cherry one is by far my favorite.

Very Cherry:

1 1/4 cup dates
1 cup dried cherries (they sell a generic one at Walmart, but the Sunsweet ones are much softer)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup almonds

I tried an apple pie version with fresh fruit, but they were entirely too sticky.  The dried fruit version turned out much better!!

Apple Pie:

1 1/4 cup dates
1/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup dried apples
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup almonds

Blueberry Scones

Preheat Oven to 425 degrees.

Cut together with pastry cutter:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter

Mix 1 egg into 3/4 cup heavy cream or skim milk.

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients with fork.

Add 1 cup blueberries.

Mix together then dump out on floured surface and combine till makes a ball (about 6 times).

Pat dough into circle about 3/4 inch thick.

Cut into 8 triangles but don't cut all the way through.
 *This is the step that I forgot this time so pictures do not show it cut...oops!!*

Sprinkle the top of the scone dough with sugar.

Bake 425 degrees for 23 minutes till brown.

Chicken Tortellini Soup

I've had several people request for me to post this recipe.  We had company last night and this is what I made and it was a big hit.  Our company requested the recipe so I figured it was a good time to post the recipe.  This recipe is a favorite in our house.  It started out as a vegetable tortellini soup and my kids were not too crazy about the spinach in that one.  I loved it.  I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner one night and I decided to modify that recipe and make some substitutions with ingredients that I had on hand.  This recipe has been in our rotation ever since!

Saute in a pan the following ingredients:

A couple of Tablespoons of Olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan (I never measure it)
3-4 carrots sliced
3-4 small cloves of garlic
2 stalks of celery sliced
1 package baby portebella mushrooms sliced

Once the carrots are fork tender, add the following to the pot:

1 large container reduced sodium chicken broth/stock
2 Tablespoons parsley
1 Tablespoon basil
(Although most of the time I just add by the handful my parsley and basil)

Once it all comes to a boil, simmer the soup for 30 minutes on a medium-low heat.

Add 2 cups of 4 cheese Tortellini (I purchase Barilla and it is in pasta isle...it's usually on the bottom shelf)

Simmer for 11 minutes additional stirring occationally.

In case you were wondering about the bread sticks pictured:

I did serve this soup with homemade bread sticks.  I modified another recipe that is posted on here on my blog under Pepperoni Rolls.  I followed the recipe as it calls for until it is time to shape them into rolls after the 1st rise.  I rolled them into ropes, placed them on a cookie sheet, coated them with egg whites, let them rise the 2nd time, and just before putting in the oven to bake they got another egg white coating and a dusting of a Parmesan & basil mixture.  They were delicious!  Next time I would roll them a little thinner, but totally a keeper!